I was interviewed for this NPR story about raw-feeding. The headline emphasizes the health risk for humans, so for Wordless Wednesday, I thought I’d show you that feeding raw beef to my dogs poses no more of a human health risk than making meatloaf.
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Kari Neumeyer 
For the last 12 years we have fed the two boys a raw food diet..different fresh meats to keep their diet interesting….never had a problem with our health..the cats also get a mainly raw meat diet…any food handling requires cleanliness and basic hygiene so no more at risk than if we were careless preparing our own meals. Fozziemum
I understand how the making and packaging process is very safe. I have considered feeding raw, I just worry about my dogs licking kids or slobbering on someone. They’re both in training to be therapy dogs so the last thing I want is a sick hospital patient contracting a disease from my dog. Do you have any advice on that?
From the NPR article, it sounds like you’re not the only one concerned about that. I don’t know if there have been any studies about salmonella or other bacteria being transferred to people through doggie kisses. Studies have been done about “salmonella shedding,” which as I understand it, refers to salmonella being excreted in the feces, not shedding of fur. My personal opinion is that dogs fed a commercial diet are just as likely to have bacteria in their mouths from licking themselves or drinking from the toilet. Kibble can be tainted with salmonella too. But I’m not a doctor or a scientist and am not willing to bet the health of someone else’s child or a sick person on it without further research. If I had a dog that kissed a lot of children and sick people, I’d consider something like The Honest Kitchen or I and Love and You, which sell freeze-dried raw meat for pets.
I suspect no matter what route we go there will always be risk factors. As mentioned there are outbreaks of a variety of diseases found in commercial products. At least you have some control over where you obtain your meat when you feed raw.
that looks yummy to me
You’ve hit a nerve for me. I had planned to join Delta Society as a therapy dog group and even went through the first part of the testing, but they have this rule that you can’t feed your dogs raw if you’re a Delta volunteer, and it just rankles and irks me, for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into here. We can’t afford to feed our dogs raw on a regular basis, but we do use raw bones and things at times to help with their teeth and health.